The Chrysta Rae Photography Scavenger Hunt: Holiday Edition

The hunt works like this: we are given a list of 10 categories to shoot, and a set time to shoot them (normally 30 days, but this hunt was 60 days). One photo per category is submitted, and then they are judged by a panel of four expert photographers. The submissions are kept a secret until the judging takes place, then they are all released in what is known as the "reveal".

Previous hunts I had a lot of found shots - that is shots I found while walking around. This time most of my shots were staged, and most were taken on the same 3 square feet of desk space in my man cave. I learned a ton about my camera (Canon S100), and my editing software (GIMP). I think this is the strongest hunt for me yet, so I had high hopes for success. However, this hunt brings out some of the best photographers on Google Plus, and well, me, together for a jolly good time and some stiff competition, so really it was like Arnold from Growin' Pains going toe to toe with Mike Tyson in the ring (but without the bloodshed).

Category: Holiday Dessert A little something for Santa. He works hard and deserves a snack. See the rest of the category here.

Category: Holiday Song "Santa Got Run Over By A Reindeer" done with Star Wars Lego minifigs. I had to do arts and crafts for this one. This is my most elaborate composite shots to date. See the rest of the category here.

Category: Candy Cane This was the first idea that came to my delusional brain when I saw this category. I built this in a light box, and used wire to keep the Lego minifigs upright. Note: Candy Canes get *really* sticky after a few minutes. I received an honorable mention for this photo.

Category: Mistletoe Indiana Jones and a female Lego minifig having a spontaneous romantic moment. I received an honorable mention by one judge and a second place prize by another for this one. See the rest of the category here.

Category: Snowflake Not my best shot, in my opinion, but I did learn a lot about transparency masks, backgrounds, and layers in GIMP. From that perspective I am happy with it. From an overall aesthetics not so much. See the rest of the category here.

Category: Santa This is a selfy I took on a whim during the Lenoir Santa Claus parade (more pics here). I didn't think much of it until a week later when I started playing around in GIMP and realized it would make a good entry. See the rest of the category here.

Category: Ribbon My daughter, Abigail. We got a bunch of ribbon and laid it over her, and let her play with it. We tried various positions but this one was her laying on our couch. We tickled her belly to get an amused expression on her face. She loved every minute of it. See the rest of the category here.

Category: Ornament I already had a shot in place for this category, but I was playing around with Christmas lights in my lightbox when I grabbed this shot. It was better than my other ornament shot so I kept this one. See the rest of the category here.